The present invention relates to a novel structural locking device and system which is intended for use in bookshelves made entirely of corrugated fiberboard. It will be appreciated, however, that the principles disclosed herein will have widespread use in other mechanical structural locking areas.
It is well-known in the art that fully assembled wooden or metal bookshelves are quite expensive. The expensive materials utilized help to raise the cost, as does labor to assemble the devices and weight and volume requirements of such assembled units render the shipping and warehousing costs extremely high. Thus, the unit price to the ultimate consumer is quite high and, consequently, unit sales are depressed.
It is known to ship such items as bookshelves, etc. in an unassembled condition. However, such units are typically of inferior quality and require numerous fasteners and complex assembly procedures by the purchaser. The use of numerous fasteners is not only a problem for the consumer but also for the manufacturer since detailed care and labor expense must be used to ensure that the proper number and types of fasteners are shipped with each unit.
It would therefore be desirable in the art to provide bookshelves, or other related furniture or structural items, which may be shipped in unassembled form but which require no separate fasteners for assembly and therefore no complex assembly procedures.
It would further be desirable to provide furniture items in which the component parts for assembly may be shipped in a flat position to reduce shipping and warehousing volume requirements.
It would also be advantageous to fabricate such furniture units of a light-weight material to further reduce shipping costs.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds, and the features of novelty characterizing the invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.